Vickers Guide Kalashnikov, Volume 1

With a history dating back to the final months of World War II, the Atomat Kalashnikova Model 1947, or AK-47 as it was to be known, “began” a transformation of the battlefield that has lasted to this day, profoundly changing the of fire of the simple infantryman. Its simple yet rugged design allowed the AK-47 to function effectively in virtually any environment and in the hands of operators with little or no training. Promoted during the Cold War as a weapon of the "liberation movements", an essential and functional tool for the overthrow of colonialist and capitalist governments, the AK-47 (together with its basic technology and instrumentation) was to become the most exported weapon, in absolute, of the Soviet Union. Interestingly, the “basic” production of the AK-47 was relatively short-lived, as it very quickly underwent an increasing number of design changes. In 1959, the “modernized” version of this rifle was born in the form of the AKM, and this platform would continue to evolve in the Soviet Union and in the hands of various manufacturers in the Warsaw Pact countries and beyond. This first of two volumes analyzes the history and development of the vast range of 7.62x39mm variants of the AK-47/AKM family of rifles around the world – from the Soviet Union, then Russia, to Albania, Bulgaria, China, Eastern Germany, Egypt, Hungary, Iraq, North Korea, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Vietnam and Yugoslavia. The volume shows, in extremely detailed manner, over sixty variations of this famous weapon. To develop this publishing project, Larry Vickers and James Rupley assembled an international team of subject matter experts, including Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons and Rob Stott of The AK-47 Catalog, and traveled a record number of miles to visit the collections in the United States, Switzerland and Russia. These volumes by Vickers present a highly detailed collection.